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Happy Birthday, Bucky!
Bucky Turns 21 at the Dam Bar in Page AZSunday the 11th, the group arose bound and determined to make more than 200 miles, and were airborne at a record-early 9 am local from Santa Fe.
This time the headwind finally abated and the turbulence was fairly mild. We made better time under less demanding conditions than probably any time since departing GAI, and certainly much better than the previous two days. We overflew the high desert in Canyonlands territory, with Geoff offering muttered curses for the poor visibility for photography that the elderly windows of 624 could offer him and his ten pounds of cameras and film.
The group sent out a "safe arrival" ping from the SPOT transmitter in Gallup NM at 1:05 EDT -- halfway between Albequerque and Flagstaff on the AZ-NM border, close to Four Corners, and a mainstay of the Old Route 66 (for the record, the next significant town west is Winslow Arizona (such a fine sight to see).
We didn't waste time at Gallup, just did a refresh, gas and go after switching the crews around a bit. Now, Ruth was in the back of Larry's RV-4 from Gallup to Page, Janice went into 624 from the 172, and Geoff
went from 624 into the Cardinal to give HIM a better shot at pictures and probably Bill Hughes some relief from the muttered cursing of a frustrated photographer.
The day's second safe arrival ping came at 4:28 EDT -- about 1:30 local -- from Page Arizona, close to Lake Powell. Page was a large-ish airport compared to some of the recent stops, and so we easily secured a couple rental car and headed for the motel, America's Best Value, which not only lived up to its name, at under $50 a night, and was VERY conveniently located a block from the Dam Bar and Grill near Lake Powell where, as you have already received the story, Bucky celebrated his 21st birthday in style.
The group got to the Dam Bar and sipped beers waiting for the dinner special to become available until they realized they were actually waiting for a LUNCH special, which they ordered up fast and were well served thanks to bartender James and waitress Christa. We asked them what, if we had only one night in Page, we should do, and they both said we needed to see the sunset at Horseshoe Bend. Most of us drove there, and then did the walk, which was well worth it. Larry Falls was WAY out on a ledge when a cute young woman, Lonnie, was photographing his bravura performance, and Larry played the hero. She showed us some of her photos of Antelope Canyon, which is why we decided to go the next day.
We'd planned to be there for at least two nights, and had long since stopped wondering how we were going to make up the time, as we had finally reached a major milestone on the trip: our base for visits to the Grand Canyon and environs. Despite being so tired, a foursome went grocery shopping for the next day before retiring,
Alex Wegenheim and Judy meantime were mulling how long we could expect to abuse our friends hospitality in Seattle, where our plans were still to arrive Tuesday and wait it out til the group gets to Portland...or something...
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Joe Stubblefield
non-member comment
Lake Powell should be nice
I hope the crew can get a good look at Lake Powell while there, from air and maybe by boat too. Judy, you might want to stop by the grocery store and bring in a couple bags of food to break the news to your folks that you might be there a "few" days.